Process / pipelinetraumatic-brain-injury

Disability Rating Scale — Tracking Severity and Recovery in Traumatic Brain Injury

The Disability Rating Scale (DRS) is a brief, clinician-administered measure specifically designed to assess the severity of disability and functional recovery across the entire spectrum of traumatic brain injury (TBI)—from acute coma to community reintegration. Developed by Rappaport and colleagues in 1982, DRS has become a standard outcome measure in TBI research and clinical practice, uniquely spanning acute (comatose) phases through chronic community outcomes where other measures fail.

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Sources

  1. Rappaport, M., Hall, K. M., Hopkins, K., Belleza, T., & Cope, D. N. (1982). Disability rating scale for severe head trauma: Relation to rehabilitation outcomes. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 63(3), 118–123. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-9993(82)80039-5
  2. Hall, K. M., Hamilton, B. B., Gordon, W. A., & Zasler, N. D. (1993). Characteristics and comparisons of functional assessment indices: Disability Rating Scale, Functional Independence Measure, and Functional Assessment Measure. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 8(2), 60–74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/00001199-199306000-00005

Related methods

ScholarGateDisability Rating Scale (Disability Rating Scale (DRS)). Retrieved 2026-06-04 from https://scholargate.app/en/rehabilitation-science/disability-rating-scale